Page 17 of A Very Rossi Christmas
I felt her stiffen in utter shock, pause... and then tilt her head to the side and open up to me, and I could have screamed with the fire rushing through my veins. I dove into her, sweeping my tongue into her mouth and tasting every inch of her I could reach, my body hard against hers and her fingers clasped in the front of my shirt, pulling at me like she couldn't get enough.
And then my brain came back to life, and I jerked back. I wasn't here to kiss Sloane Brennan.
I mean, I wasn't here to have anything to do with Sloane Brennan, if I was being honest, but at this moment that seemed like it was way beside the point.
The point was, I didn't have time to be standing around kissing her. Not with a Patrelli out there waiting for me and something important to tell her.
"I'm not the only one following you, Sloane, and the only reason I've been on your tail is that I saw him and had to warn you."
Her eyes, which had been foggy with the kiss, suddenly sharpened on me. "What?"
I leaned forward even more, forcing myself to move slowly and keep control of my actions, hoping that we looked like a couple making out in a back hallway rather than a prince and princess of the New York mob having a conversation we never should have had.
"Sloane," I told her quietly. "There's a man following you, and I don't think it's because he wants your autograph."
10
SLOANE
ULTERIOR MOTIVES
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
And I wasn’t even talking about the fact that I’d just fucking kissed Joseph Rossi. Or rather, he’d just kissed me … and I hadn’t stopped him.
The truth was, I’d kissed him back. And I’d liked it way too fucking much.
And no, because I can hear you asking, I hadn’t been lusting after that for years and years. I hadn’t been dreaming about it since I was sixteen, letting my mind wander over what it would feel like to have his hands on me. His lips on mine.
Wondering if he felt the same way I did.
Besides, none of that was the point right now.
The point was, he’d just told me what I already knew: that Caleb Massimo was currently stalking me. I’d known it for months, and Joseph Rossi suddenly showing up in my life and figuring it out too didn’t give him the right to get involved.
“That’s none of your fucking business,” I told him coldly. “And the last time I checked, you haven’t spoken to me in about five years, which means you don’t get a say in how I live my life, Joseph. Not that you ever did. You’re not my goddamned father.”
Yeah, okay, that was a little bit over the line, but what was it to Joseph, anyhow? Sure, Caleb was a pain in the ass and a royal dickhead, but that didn’t mean he was actually dangerous. And even if he was, that was none of Joseph’s business.
I wasn’t his girl to protect anymore. In fact, I never had been.
And while I was at it…
“What did you do, anyhow, come all the way from New York just to piss me off? Act superior, like you know more than I do about how to live? Act like you had any right to just show up out of the blue and starting handing out orders, when you haven’t bothered to pick up a phone and give me a call in the last five years? You think you can just show up and act like you’re in charge, the way you always did when we were kids?”
He slammed me back against the wall, his eyes on fire and his face cold, and I suddenly remembered how close we were standing together. I remembered the dark hallway and his hands on me and his lips sealing over mine as he pushed me back, his body telling me exactly how much he wanted to do more than that.
I shoved that thought away from me, thinking I could deal with it later when we weren’t in the middle of a fight, but he pinned me to the wall with his body again, his hand coming up to grasp my chin and keep me still.
His breathing was ragged, and he smelled like he’d been drinking the bitterest beer he could find. He smelled like the beach and the LA sunshine, and he smelled like the soap he’d used ever since I could remember.
He was also hard as a rock against my belly, and my body reacted to that before the signal could get out of my brain, telling my libido to be calm. I arched up off the wall, my mouth opening on a sigh at the warmth flooding through me.
Goddammit, this was not the time to get excited about my one-time best friend getting handsy with me. I bit the inside of my cheek, screamed at myself to get it together, and glared at him.
“What, exactly, do you think you’re doing?” I hissed.
